The Latest Ski Trend Takes the Sport Back to its Origins
Want to climb every mountain yourself? Try backcountry skiing and skip the lift lines. For the rest of us, tow technology has come a long way, as our visual timeline demonstrates
DESPITE THE TECHNICAL wizardry and multimillion-dollar amenities of modern ski lifts, the biggest growth in the sport over 20 years is in the backcountry: Climb the slopes yourself and shush your way down, a method known among ski bums as “earn your turns.” Zealots laud the merits of hard-fought climbs, relishing a few memorable runs a day rather than fighting lift lines and rising resort costs. But now more skiers want it all—one high-performance setup to go up and downhill in any snowy terrain—and companies are producing versatile new gear like the collection shown here. It opens the gate to backcountry skiing without...